In general, a person eats himself up over his past and present, not realizing that everything was already predetermined from the start and everything had to happen. The two principles: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” and “There is none else besides Him” must be integrated and not just alternate one after the other like a day of work and night of resting.

Every time you need to integrate these two principles before each effort and also after it. After the fleeting moment it’s absorbed in the world of Infinity and it’s forbidden to take anything into account concerning it. All the accounting is now only with the Creator.

Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before,” that if a minister doesn’t do the right actions with a letter, then the Creator brings it down and puts another letter in its place. We still don’t understand exactly how this works, but we need to understand unambiguously that we shouldn’t be sorry about the past and the present! We only need to be in fear of the future: Will I be able to prepare myself for the discovery of the next Reshimo in order to satisfy the Creator?

The past and the present are completely under the control of “There is none else besides Him” and so I have nothing to clarify except my relationship to what was done. This is the one thing that we need to do. We don’t change the reality itself, the reality is changed regarding my relationship to it. Everything depends on my angle of viewing a particular object; however, the object itself is unchanged. Only my comprehension is changed. Is my comprehension egoistic or altruistic? And from this each and every thing in reality is changed.

I change my senses. Those ten Sefirot are revealed but everything depends on this: Is my desire equipped and shielded with a “screen” against the egoistic pleasure? This completely changes the entire picture.

If I think that what happened in some way depended on me and that I myself chose how to behave, it follows that there is one other authority besides the Creator: my own self. So does it follow that I myself determined how everything is supposed to happen?

If I sit and eat myself up over what I could have done yesterday and didn’t do, or I am sorry that I didn’t come today to the lesson, then it follows that I determined my actions myself and decided not to come. This is to say, that besides the Creator there is another force that is acting in reality: my own self. About this the Creator says: “I and he cannot dwell in the same abode.” If I want to dwell together with the Creator in one dwelling, I must absolutely nullify myself. Then I will be together with Him.

Therefore, about the entire past that happened up until a moment ago, I must say that everything came from the Creator and so it had to be. For that is how the Creator thought and arranged everything from the start, and I must be thankful for this, as for a very great prize, about all the failures and the things that I did that were not okay. For this, the Creator now obligates me to sit and be sorry about everything that was done, so that I will say that everything was done according to the desire of the Creator with the goal of teaching me to behave otherwise in the future.
[123536]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/13

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Question: I don’t understand how we can change the intention of corporeal desire. How can I eat for someone else? Should I change it in the first place? I often hear that we shouldn’t touch our corporeal desires…

Answer: You shouldn’t change your desires in any way, but you should change your intentions.

Why not? Because I dedicate my life to attaining the upper state and being immersed in our world is only in order to change our intentions.

The Reshimot (reminiscences) descend into our world so that we can operate in it. At the same time our intention is a minus while an action can only be a combination of a minus and a plus.

You are saying: “I love to eat, I love a girl, I love to sit with friends in a bar or to watch a football game, etc.” That’s true, you love all that. These are your desires, so why can’t you use them with the right intention in order to rise to the goal, to return to this world but not from the same level you fell into the Reshimot, but in order to rise until the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) on the spiritual ladder.

Why do you think you can’t do that? By ascending from one level of Reshimo to another level, you are already completing a good reincarnation and not living your life in vain. You may reach the end of correction in this life, and it is possible in our times.

But even if you go through another round, next time you will already be in a different state, on another level. In our time we are actually in such states that we can reach the end of correction. This is the goal!

So we shouldn’t think that “a thousand enter a room and only one comes to the Light.” This isn’t true anymore; you shouldn’t worry that you have certain negative urges, as it may seem to you. If you engage in correcting the intentions, at the same time you shouldn’t worry about a thing. Just keep on asking yourself whether you do whatever you do for yourself or for the one you perform the action with, is it in mutual cooperation with the friends, a woman, etc. If it is mutual, then it is good.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day One 12/13/13, Lesson 1

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Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of the Zohar”: Throughout the generations, those who ascended and were rewarded with Dvekut were few, as our sages wrote about the verse, “I have found one person in a thousand; a thousand enter the room and one comes to the Light,” meaning to Dvekut and attainment.

Thus, in our days, in the generation of the Messiah, every thousand people who enter can come out to the Light, to attainment. Of course, this takes great effort since otherwise we will not have spiritual vessels. However, from above there are no limitations anymore and everyone can receive the support of many people along the way who yearn for the same thing.

Besides, the world is deteriorating and is heading toward an abyss and annihilation, which also provides reasons that justify the spiritual process in our eyes. Even the ego itself agrees to and supports it, hoping to make a great profit.

So the door to the spiritual dimension is really open for everyone in the generation of the Messiah. It is because the Reshimot (reminiscences) that are revealed in us are so corrupt that we are totally opposite from the spiritual world and are at the most distant point from it. So there are no more limitations here, everyone who sets off along this path is promised from above that “if you make an effort, you will receive.”

Before even great efforts were not a guarantee for success. A person could have made great efforts and still not attained anything, but someone else could have entered thanks to his help. However, his contribution was preserved. Thus the system has not reached the final stages of correction.

On the other hand, the time of the final state has come. We are correcting such a deep layer of the system that the previous accounts are nullified. Everyone who makes an effort will receive the reward in his hands, in the spiritual vessel.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The commandment that “you shall not have other gods in the work” means that it is forbidden to think that there are other forces that operate on you. There is only one force that man is standing against, the Creator. The difference between a person, which is a special level of the desire to receive, and all the other previous levels of development is that a person calculates things and can see himself from the side: Who am I, what am I, why did I act in a certain way and why do others act in another way, who is influencing me, how am I operated? A person has a point of observation from which he can appreciate things as if from the outside.

It is as if he is divided into two parts and can look at himself either from inside his ego, when he operates in agreement with his nature, or from the side. Then he sees that all his work is to attribute everything to one force. This force operates on him internally and externally and determines everything that he does and thinks at the moment. There is only one point of clarification, and if he sees things through it, he can assess himself correctly if he understands that both the internal and the external reality: he, his perspective, and feelings are all arranged by the Creator.

This point of clarification is centered on one thing only, on whether he really attributes everything to one cause. At this point there is nothing but this discernment, this condition, attributing everything to one force that created the desire that manages it and fills it. This means that what the desire to receive feels and understands also come from the same force. The point that examines everything and focuses a person on attributing everything to the upper providence is also managed by that one force.

All of what is happening to a person and his feelings that he cannot attribute to one cause is called “other gods.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/13, Shamati #15 “What Is Other Gods in the Work”

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Question: When I was informed that there was a convention, I didn’t have a shadow of a doubt that I would come to it. But as the time for the convention approached, more and more external and internal obstacles appeared. One moment I was enthusiastic that I was traveling to a congress, and in the next moment, the opposite, I had no urge to travel at all; this occurred innumerable times. Why are we given obstacles like these?

Answer: The obstacles depend on how much you feel them as such. But if you were to feel that for every obstacle, for every small disturbance, whether some thought or confusion, that you had received a great reward in all kinds of ways, then would this seem like an obstacle to you? This would be a means for attaining a good, eternal, and perfect state. Therefore it depends on how we look at it.

You lack the sensation that “There is none else besides Him.” And He set up the obstacles for you; He simply wanted to give you more possibilities for fulfillment. Difficulties, despair, overcoming them, these are all your efforts that you invest so that afterward, when at the convention, you can feel and get more. Therefore you need to thank the Creator for the so-called “sufferings,” for now, specifically thanks to them, you feel a greater fulfillment.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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If we don’t implement the wisdom of Kabbalah in practice in the group, in our relations with other people, then I float in the air misinterpreting it and not even feeling that I am wrong. Together with the friends, we must decide that it is time to correct the mutual relations between us.

We are standing around the mutual hatred, unable to cope with it, or simply disrespect one another and cannot correct it. I don’t care about the friends; I don’t want to think about them, and even if I want to think about them, then it usually leads to repulsion and disgust and not to positive feelings. In short, we have a basis to work on, and only in the general circle can we reach unity.

This is the only reason we turn to the Creator, and this is the only thing that we demand from Him, even if it is daring and tough: “You have promised us, You have to keep what You have promised!” No problem, He will be glad to do so as long as you demand that He corrects the mutual relationships between the friends.

So the question is what do I need all this for? Theoretically, in order to delight Him, but who is He? I don’t know Him. I don’t understand what it is all about. What does it mean to delight Him?

It means that when working in the group and really expecting connection, we discover that what is missing is the help of some force, a force that will glue us together and connect us. We are powerless by ourselves. So where is the force that can connect us?

Then we can demand and raise “the prayer of many,” since it is actually the Creator who has created this problem for us. Why? So that we will establish and consolidate our attitude towards Him, so we will delight Him in everything that we do.

Why? Because then we will achieve equivalence of form with Him, we will reach connection and adhesion.

We have to fulfill this not just during the lesson but when we connect together  and focus correctly on the goal during the lesson. Then our collective desire works.

Studying alone doesn’t lead to anything.
[123507]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Can we say that by delighting the teacher I am delighting the Creator?

Answer: It depends on how you calculate things. Just like the group that reflects your inner structure and serves as an imaging instrument so that you can practice and fulfill the correction, so is the teacher for you in this world so that in the mutual relationship with him you will be able to clarify your inner correction. Instead of the Creator, there are the friends in the group, the teacher, and the books before you.

How can you delight the teacher?

Let me put it simply: In order to delight someone, you have to know what he desires, what his deficiency is, and then you can fill his desire. I delight someone if I give him what he wants.

So what does the teacher what to receive from you? He wants to see how you connect with the friends. So you can practice working on the connection with the friends and show the teacher, like showing a kindergarten teacher what a “good boy” you are in the group, and thus delight him.

The teacher doesn’t need any presents, rewards, or favors from you, this is enough.
[123504]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How do we correct the wicked when they are discovered? What is there to do if they persist like permanent problems without solutions?

Answer: Static states do not exist because at every moment new Reshimot are discovered, but a person doesn’t see them, doesn’t notice the changes taking place. These changes of Reshimot occur with infinite speed, but we with our limited feelings only discover every tenth Reshimo, every thousandth Reshimo, or ten thousandth.

We are not prepared to grasp the changes of a state with such a high frequency or to distinguish the tiny changes that take place in them. This is like an infant who hardly perceives anything of all that is happening around him, but the more he grows, he begins to discern and discover more, to be stimulated and enjoy more.

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 5: I rejoice in those revealed corruptions and the ones that are being revealed…. This is why I’m happy when they come out of their holes because when you cast your eye on them, they become a pile of bones…. But I do not settle for it even for a moment…. that when the buried wicked appear, although they haven’t been fully conquered, their very appearance is regarded as a great salvation.

This essentially is our work, there is no more. Concentrating on it can greatly reduce the time. And the main thing is to not lose our enthusiasm and good mood. But if we don’t prepare ourselves for revelation, then we get a descent. But this is not necessary. It is possible never to descend but to go from strength to strength if we prepare ourselves correctly. And then we won’t feel the blow. In prepared Kelim (desires), it will not be perceived as a blow but as an honorable achievement, attainment, and good discovery. Everything depends only on preparation.

This is what the world is missing because the world was not ready for this discovery; now we are beginning to teach about it, but it must still pass through many ascents and descents. And we must understand that as long as we have not advanced them, we have not advanced ourselves. Baal HaSulam writes that he asked that his spiritual degree be lowered so he would be able to educate people.

Every Kabbalist who is a conduit for others, depends upon them. This is because he can’t advance more than he can take care of others. Certainly there is a huge difference between their levels, but in spite of this, if he takes upon himself the mission to be concerned about others and to take care of them, he cannot rise as high as would be fitting regarding his effort, rather he is left below in order to take care of the lower ones.

We relate to the world exactly as the teacher relates to his students. And if we want to advance, we have no choice but to advance the world. And even though there is a very great gap between the levels, in any case, we must rise together in parallel. If we don’t rise and don’t lead and pull the world after us, we cannot give satisfaction to the Creator.

We see even from the example of our world, that people who give birth to children begin to be more concerned about and involved with the children and are less immersed in their own advancement. They turn themselves in the direction of the children, “small states,” and don’t yearn to develop themselves and be great people. We must learn from nature, that specifically in this form we advance. After I passed the stage of embryo and the small state (Ibur and Yenika) and attained maturity (Mochin), I can achieve great abundance only through taking care of the small.

That is how the spiritual ladder of levels is built. If I don’t raise a prayer, MAN, from the lower ones, I cannot myself receive Light from above, that is, to clothe in the Light of Hassidim, which I pass to the lower ones. Attainment and discovery are possible only when you don’t look for greatness for yourself, but want to develop those who come after you. That is how it is arranged in our world as a copy of the spiritual, and that is how advancement in the spiritual levels is done. Therefore, the time has arrived for doing acts of widespread dissemination, whether we want it or not, because without this we don’t advance.

We must understand these things, agree with them, and realize them. And then we will see that it is specifically this work with the people that helps us to understand, feel more, and advance.
[123441]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/13

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The Kabbalists who left writings, books, and textbooks for us are teaching within them some general rules about the right way for people to connect in a Kabbalistic group.

The first condition is nullification of the self. We must nullify ourselves and show this to all the others as if we are proclaiming: “I am ready for everything in order to make a complete zero of myself. Do anything you want with me. In no way do I want to command anyone, to be the leader, to pressure anyone. I want to be a complete zero in a group and am ready to do everything necessary for your benefit.”

The second condition is greatness of the goal. Our advancement depends on the greatness of the goal in our eyes, on the importance of the characteristic of bestowal, love, and unity between us. This must be the most important thing for me and I must show this to everyone. I must speak about this, even if this is not that important to me personally because the friends will return that stimulus to me and we will impress each other. Our obligation is to elevate the group, for it has a lofty goal. I must speak about this with the friends, all the time elevating the importance that the group is everything. This will help me to nullify myself.

The third condition is bestowal to the friends. I must try to give them some gifts. By the word “gifts” I mean bestowal to the friends. I go to the kitchen and wash the dishes, clean, do something for them. I try to serve them, like an adult serves the children, helping them in whatever way possible, to give, to add to every situation in the group. On the other hand, I must feel myself as small, wanting to receive influence, education, and bestowal upon myself.

That is, on the one hand, I am great, I bestow to the friends all the time, exalt the goal in their eyes, and care about them. On the other hand, I am small, ready to receive everything from them that can fulfill only me.

A dual relationship like this regarding the group is very important. The larger the gap between these two polar relationships: I am below – the group above and I am above – the group below, the closer I will be to the goal.

We also need to include some of our particular problems that we need to raise to solve them.

All of this is realized in that I am always concerned for my friends that it will be good, happy, and pleasant so they will have complete confidence of attaining the goal and they  remain with great energy through the connection between us. And this energy must be pumped through the group so that all of us are “cooked” in it, in the good sense of the word. It will warm and throw us around so that we will shake all of the ego out of us and accumulate a completely different force, the power of bestowal and love. That is what we need.
[123424]
From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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Question: The Israeli nation waited for the Messiah during the time of exile. How should we work with the same deficiencies that are revealed in people today?

Answer: We live in a generation that is waiting for everything but the Messiah. We live in a generation that only wants materialism, and matter covers us over our heads.

Our generation is starting to reveal the domination of corporeality and it is in this generation that the desire that is aimed at the worst and lowest basic existence, that which is totally meaningless, is revealed.

It is from this lowest point in this world that we can actually discover and start the way back to the goal of creation.

Even if we descend along the way, these descents are already additions of the Light that show us how opposite we are from it…

Baal HaSulam says in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“, item 63: Thus, in our generation, although the essence of the souls is the worst, which is why they could not be selected for Kedusha thus far, they are the ones that complete the Partzuf of the world and the Partzuf of the souls with respect to the Kelim, and the work is completed only through them.

This is because now, when the Kelim of NHY are being completed, and all the Kelim, Rosh, Toch, and Sof are in the Partzuf, full measures of Light, in Rosh, Toch, Sof, are now being extended to all those who are worthy, meaning complete NRN. Hence, only after the completion of these lowly souls can the highest Lights manifest, and not before.

The vessel has to be as deep as the height of the Light that is dressed in it.
[123553]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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